Hints For Homeowners

Get Ready For A Smart Home Three Ways

(NAPSI)—If you’ve been thinking about making your house a
Smart Home, three tech trends are worth considering:

1. Smart Lighting: Controlling home
lighting through voice commands and mobile devices can be easy with low-cost,
modular lighting systems from Deako. Traditional light switches can be
converted to smart switches and smart dimmers, letting you control lighting,
create schedules and personalize scenes for different activities, such as
cooking, dining or relaxing at night. Mobile apps let you control lights when
you’re away from home, for instance, turning on interior lights to make
an empty home appear occupied and activating exterior lights to illuminate an
entrance for a safer return. Smart lighting provides hands-free convenience,
makes homes more aesthetically pleasing, and offers cost (and energy) savings
because you can easily turn off lights when you don’t need them.

2. Smart Home Security:
Programming outdoor lighting—turning it on at sunset and off at
sunrise, for instance—is one effective way to thwart criminals. Other
valuable security tools include cameras from Nest that provide 24/7
monitoring and can send alerts directly to your phone if the system detects
movement or someone in the house. Smart doorbells such as Ring provide live
streaming, too, so you can monitor your residence and use a built-in
microphone feature to communicate directly with whomever entered, welcoming a
latchkey kid or deterring would-be thieves. With Bluetooth lock solutions
such as August, you control access privileges from an app so there’s no
need to hide or hand off a house key; while Roost sends notifications when it
detects smoke or carbon monoxide and can alert you to a low battery,
eliminating that annoying middle-of-the-night chirping.

3. Voice Command Device:
Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri are familiar
companions to those who have access to voice-activated speakers at home. Josh
AI, Savant and Control4 also offer powerful ways to customize entire
homes—integrating and controlling lighting, entertainment, climate and
more. Operated by voice commands and smart sensors, these virtual assistants
answer questions (such as will it rain today?), provide recommendations
(since you liked that song, you might like this one), and take such actions
as customizing a music playlist, locking doors, closing window shades,
heating a home spa, dimming lights, reclining chairs and streaming video for
movie night.

Learn More

For a look at these and other smart ways to improve your home, visit www.deako.com and @godeako on Twitter.

“Controlling home lighting
through voice commands and mobile devices can be easy with low-cost, modular
lighting systems from Deako. http://bit.ly/2SP8cUC”

It can be a bright idea to increase your comfort and
security at home with smart lighting.